Syria #3: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
For the team, Rev. Dr. Mark Mueller, Executive Director
Today was a day of worship and fellowship at the Presbyterian Church of Latakia, Syria. A full church greeted our team led by the preacher of the day, the Rev. Dr. Edwin Gray Hurley III.
It was a day of many greetings, but one greeting stood out as the most memorable to me.
The service had ended, and we were asked to join the congregation in the fellowship hall for coffee and cookies.
Most of the team brought our phones as we usually do, and this simple device brought about the most amazing experience.
I will take an occasional selfie with someone I meet along the way. After my first conversation in the fellowship hall, I asked a young woman for a picture of the two of us in the form of a selfie. As we positioned ourselves, three people came up to me and asked to join. We readied ourselves, now a much larger group, only to be interrupted again by five more ladies. The room was more alive now as people scrambled to join. In the end, a selfie didn't work. We took a group shot of nearly 18 people.
It would have been wonderful to conclude the story here having had a group picture with smiles and laughter obvious to all, but this group was only getting started. This type of thing was happening in all corners of the fellowship hall, and it went on for nearly 35 minutes. I was exhausted when it was all finished.
There are many conclusions one could draw from this experience. People gather when there is food and drink. People enjoy the company of others.
In my case, those in the fellowship hall differed in many ways from me. We come from very different lands. Seldom do we understand the language of the other. But in the end, in my opinion, food and words were secondary in terms of importance. Valuing one another and including them in a picture seems to transcend boundaries and barriers.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the pictures that I have attached from my time in the fellowship hall are all that need to be written or said.
It was a great day!
